No one had expected the night to last so long. So much so that the next morning, Xue Shi still felt the sky was incredibly dark.

However, now that he was in the game world, what couldn't happen? He didn't make a fuss, but instead glanced coldly at his family before quietly walking away.

Xue Shi walked for a long time before finally finding a stream. He looked around and, seeing that no one was around, took out the note again.

The note contained a seven-character quatrain: Green trees reflected in the deep pool, treasures hidden beneath the water have long remained untapped. Standing by the pool, a song arose, and the treasures reappeared, the fish returning laden with its bounty.

Each sentence seems to contain profound meaning.

Unfortunately, Xue Shi's Chinese language grades were not very good when he was in school. He frowned and carefully read through the text, then coughed twice and stood by the stream, singing a couple of lines in a low voice.

"On the banyan tree by the pond, cicadas are chirping, announcing summer..." He hummed a tune from the past, seemingly casual on the surface, but in reality, he was extremely embarrassed inside.

At first, he was a little nervous, but with each failure, Xue Shi couldn't help but feel unhappy and gradually started to sing loudly.

The surroundings were quiet and still, with lush vegetation and the occasional chirping of birds. However, no matter how Xue Shi changed his position or the song he sang, there was no sound from his surroundings.

He couldn't help but feel a little doubtful.

Xue Shi felt irritated. He cursed under his breath, scooped up a handful of clear stream water and drank it down in large gulps. But for some reason, no matter how much he drank, his mouth was still dry and unbearable.

He had no choice but to get up, crush the cigarette butt with his toe, and walk along the direction the stream was flowing.

Soon, Xue Shi spotted a pool of water in the distance and heard a faint singing voice, which was hardly pleasant to hear.

Could it be that other adventurers had gotten there first? Xue Shi quickened his pace and ran as fast as he could, but he found the voice becoming more and more familiar.

"The great river flows eastward, and the stars in the sky point to the Big Dipper..." The voice was clearly identical to that of his father, Xue Songhuo.

What exactly happened? How did Dad know where the treasure was hidden? Could it be that he secretly looked at the note in his pocket while he was asleep? Xue Shi frowned deeply.

A surge of anger welled up in his chest, and he was about to step forward to question them when, at that moment, ripples spread across the pool.

Suddenly, a gigantic figure rose from the water and slammed straight towards Old Man Xue. In an instant, the pond turned red, a bloody mess.

The old man's singing froze instantly. His face was filled with horror, his eyes wide open, and his death was extremely tragic.

Only a patch of scarlet blood remained on the surface of the pool, along with the old man's unfinished song.

Xue Shi was horrified. He stared wide-eyed in terror, trying to make out the monster in front of him.

Only then did he realize that the monster had huge tentacles, the surface of which resembled an elephant's trunk, but the bottom was covered with hard suckers, and it was slowly pulling Old Man Xue's corpse into the water.

And just as the note had said, there was a faintly visible treasure chest at the bottom of the pond.

The appearance and color of this treasure chest were completely different from anything he had ever seen before, clearly indicating that it was an extremely rare item.

Xue Shi had no time to care about the old man's life or death, and for some reason, the fact that his own father had been hunted down by a monster gave him a sense of relief.

As things stand, the information provided on that note is indeed true, and Xue Shi looked at the note again as if it were a precious treasure.

He just didn't understand how to sing, and why Old Man Xue was attacked by the water monster after he sang.

A sense of crisis rose in his heart, but he could not give up, because this was a golden opportunity for him to get rid of his family who were idle all day long and only knew how to drag him down.

Looking back, when I was alone during the newbie protection period, life wasn't exactly affluent, but at least I lived a carefree and comfortable life.

Life has been getting worse ever since I sent my whole family over.

These days, he doesn't even have a full meal once a day, let alone live a decent life.

With elderly parents to care for and young children to raise, he was caught in the middle. Bearing the heavy burden of his entire family, he felt increasingly stifled.

On what grounds?

Xue Shi thought indignantly, since all the important supplies were on him anyway, and the nagging old woman was only carrying some unimportant luggage.

If he successfully obtains this mysterious treasure chest, the wealth within will be his capital for fleeing far away.

From now on, let's go our separate ways and avoid any further contact. Life is long; he'll surely find better family in the future.

Immersed in his beautiful vision of the future, Xue Shi became somewhat smug.

He was completely unaware that not far behind him, a pair of sharp, hawk-like eyes were fixed intently on his back...

In the distance, watching from afar, was Xi Xi.

She was quietly hidden in the dense bushes, staring intently at everything happening in front of her.

By all accounts, she had been waiting here for quite some time.

But to her surprise, the first person to appear there was that old man Xue.

The old man was acting strangely and furtively. He muttered incantations as he slowly walked to the edge of the pool, and then suddenly began to sing.

Xi Xi wasn't surprised by this strange behavior.

A cold smile slowly crept onto her lips, for no other reason than that the mysterious note had come from her own hand.

It turns out that just last night, Xi Xi, dressed in a black night-clothes, meticulously planned and executed a clever scheme.

She deliberately made some noise, successfully attracting Li Guifen's attention and leading her to follow her.

She had bought peanuts from a convenience store beforehand, and then casually dumped them on the ground, stomping on them a few times to get them covered in dirt.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!